


The Way We Were

by Bang Bang Beef Keef (BangBangBeefKeef)



Series: Klance Request Line Series [7]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bar/Pub, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blow Jobs, Breaking Up & Making Up, But not neatly wrapped with a bow, Happy Ending, I named this fic The Way We Were so you gotta know heartbreak and feels are coming your way, M/M, Miscommunication, Misunderstandings, Prepare for the frustration, no confirmation either way but c'mon, suspicion of cheating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 09:28:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29008335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BangBangBeefKeef/pseuds/Bang%20Bang%20Beef%20Keef
Summary: After nearly a decade of pining for Lance, Keith is finally dating him, but he's insecure in his new relationship. He has reason to believe Lance has been unfaithful and that suspicion is enough to split their friend group into two camps and break them up.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: Klance Request Line Series [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2081907
Comments: 64
Kudos: 170





	1. The Way We Were

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ziven08](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ziven08/gifts).



> Gift work for ziven08 / @iccyinu on Twitter!
> 
> STOP!! GO BACK!! READ THE TAGS!!

Keith presses the back of his hand to his mouth to try to keep a moan from slipping out.

“It’s okay, baby, we’re all alone. You can be loud,” says Lance, then he goes back to licking up the side of Keith’s cock.

Keith blinks. Blinks again. Lance is still there and this is really happening. It’s not a fantasy this time. He’s not picturing Lance while jerking off in his bedroom, trying to be quiet in case his brother overhears. For once, he is actually in Lance’s apartment and Lance is actually on his knees in front of him, licking trails of spit up his cock. Somehow, this being real makes Keith feel shy.

Lance kisses up to the head of Keith’s cock, then uses his lips to massage it while lazily stroking the base with his hand. Lance pops off and says, “Fuck, I love making you blush.”

It’s so surreal. Just so surreal that they do this now. Take off their clothes, touch each other, use their mouths in ways that make Keith drop onto his back on the bed.

Looking at the ceiling is easier. Lance is so beautiful and sexy and deserves to be looked at, but Keith can’t handle him watching him right back. He’s too wrecked, getting this incredible blowjob from the man he’s wanted almost his entire adult life.

Lance takes Keith into his mouth, diving deep so his cock touches the back of his throat. Lance told him when they first got together that he’d only fooled around a bit with guys and didn’t have much experience. Yet he seems to have no gag reflex at all. 

While Lance bobs on his dick, Keith chews on the knuckle of his thumb to keep from losing his mind.

“You can nibble on my fingers, baby, if that’s what you’re into.”

Keith raises up his head to see the ever confident Lance wiggling the fingers on one hand while stroking his cock with the other. Keith pushes up to his elbows, leans onto one, then takes that free hand by the wrist. He doesn’t suck on Lance’s fingers though, instead uses Lance’s hand to cup his cheek. The connection of the touch allows Keith to watch as Lance goes back to bobbing on his cock. 

Keith twists his head to plant a kiss on Lance’s palm, all the while holding that intimate eye contact. He moans as he cums, feeling a rush of heat and affection radiating through him as he bucks up in Lance’s mouth.

Keih watches as Lance tips gingerly back off his cock and swallows down the fullful of cum. He sighs and flops onto his back. A moment later, Lance drops beside him and they instinctively move closer until they’re cuddling.

“When you invited me to come over and give my opinion on your outfit for tonight, I didn’t know this is what you meant,” chuckles Keith.

Lance laughs. “Gotta make up for all the times I asked you over to get your opinion on an outfit when I really wanted to give you a blowjob.”

“And how many times was that?” teases Keith.

“Hmmm probably about once a week over the past eight or nine years. Give or take a few months.” Lance shifts and Keith notices the clock on the bedside table. “What?” asks Lance. “What’s that look? Did I just totally freak you out?”

“No, I just noticed I have to be at work in ten minutes,” says Keith, pushing to sit.

“Oh no,” says Lance flatly. “And you work so far away from my place.”

*********

Keith zips himself away and Lance puts on a jacket. They ride the elevator down, walk outside, and then down the steps into the bar with five minutes left to spare.

“Hey!” shouts Allura from the corner booth at the back. Hunk and Pidge are sitting with her. Usual spot, usual friends, the only thing that’s new in Lance holding his hand as they walk over.

“Scooch, scooch, scooch, scooch!” they all say together as their friends shift over counter-clockwise to make enough room for Keith and Lance to sit down.

“Is that what you’re wearing?” asks Pidge, taking in Lance’s leather pants, mesh shirt, and coat.

“What? Keith liked it,” says Lance, stretching out an arm and dropping it across Keith’s shoulders.

“Really?” says Allura looking Lance up and down. “Keith likes that jacket and everything?” She’s referring to the black jacket Lance is wearing that’s covered in bright yellow and red pineapples.

“To be fair,” says Keith, “he added the jacket after I approved the outfit.”

“What’s wrong with this jacket?” demands Lance.

“The words ‘life-size pineapples in obnoxious colours’ comes to mind,” says Pidge, making the others laugh.

Lance is indignant. “I love this jacket! It reminds me of Keith.”

“How?” demands Keith.

“Because when you wear your hair in a top pony, your head looks like a pineapple.”

There is no logical reason for this to be flattering, but Keith finds himself going, “awww” then leaning in to peck Lance on the lips.

“Ohhhhhohoh,” tease the others.

“That doesn’t account for you letting Lance leave the house in a mesh shirt,” says Allura.

“Keith probably had a mouth too full of dick to protest,” says Pidge.

“Well, jokes on you,” says Lance, pressing his pointer finger to the sticky surface of the table, “I had his dick in my mouth so he was free to tell me to change.”

“TMI,” says Allura. “We get to call TMI on you two, right? Now that you’re dating no more stories about your sex lives.”

“Sex life,” says Lance, “We have merged our sex lives plural to become a sex life singular.”

“Well, I think you look appropriate as someone who is about to see DJ Bii-Boh-Beatbox,” says Hunk, steering the conversation back on topic.

“Ugh,” says Pidge and Allura in unison.

“He’s a good DJ, okay?” says Lance, defensively. “Keith agrees.”

Keith shakes his head no until Lance looks at him, then he switches it to a nod.

“He would come with me if he didn’t have to work. You really should just blow this place off and join me.”

“It’s a Saturday night and I’m closing,” argues Keith.

“Tell them you’re sick!”

“I’m already here and they already saw me!”

“Shouldn’t you be starting?” asks Allura, checking the time on her phone. “And shouldn’t you be going?” She looks to Lance.

“Just sat down for a drink,” says Keith, reaching over and grabbing Allura’s pint.

“Apparently my drink…,” says Allura as Keith gulps down what’s left in the cup.

“And mine,” says Hunk as Lance swipes his pint.

“What are best friends for?” asks Lance.

“To pay for drinks, apparently,” says Pidge.

“I’ll bring you all another round,” says Keith as he slides out of the booth. He stands, then leans down to kiss Lance goodbye. “Have a good time.”

“Don’t wait up,” says Lance. “Just kidding. You have to close. I’ll be up late too if you wanna come by my place when you’re done.”

“Ohhhhohoh,” chorus the others at the table.

Ignoring them, Keith says, “Yeah, I’ll come over after work.”

“Bow chicka wow wow,” sings Pidge.

This of course has everyone, including Lance, echoing back, “Bow chicka wow wow!”

Keith rolls his eyes. As he turns to head to the bar, he overhears Lance say, “Come on, it’s so lame to go to a concert alone! One of you has to put in some earplugs and come with me.”

“Not on your life,” says Allura.

************

By the time Keith has clocked in and returned to the table with drinks, Lance has taken off to the concert. He notes Pidge, Hunk, and Allura are all still at the table so Lance hasn’t managed to convince anyone to join him. 

“No Shiro tonight?” asks Keith, as he sets down the beers.

“Has a date tonight,” says Allura.

“You think he would’ve told me. His brother. Who he lives with.”

“Maybe if you weren’t spending every night at Lance’s place doing whatever two consenting adults may do in private after… what was it? Eight years of pining for each other?”

“We’re taking it slow,” says Keith, hugging the tray to his chest. 

“I recall a story from earlier about a dick in mouth that would imply otherwise.”

This catches Pidge off guard and has them sputtering out their drink.

“On that note, I have other tables to serve,” says Keith.

Then it’s all hustle and bustle. Typical Saturday night crowd has Keith run off his feet. It’s the same routine he’s been following for the past nine years.

***** 

_ When he turned twenty-one, Keith started working here at The Metal Lion. The next summer, on July 28th, Lance sat down on a bar stool, held up his ID and said, “A Pint of your finest alcohol please! I just turned twenty-one!” _

_ “You’ve been in here before,” Romelle had said, taking his ID. If he had, Keith didn’t recognize him, but he was terrible with faces. “But last time your name was Taylor.” _

_ “I think it’s about time I was honest with you fine folks,” Lance had said, winking at Keith for some reason. “Up until today I’ve been using a fake ID. I’m sorry you had to find out this way.” _

_ “Really? Because it seems like you’re flaunting it,” Keith pointed out. _

_ “It’s true. As Taylor, I always had to subdue my natural charism in order to not draw attention to myself and, by extension, my ID, but now that I’m free to be Lance. Prepare to see a lot more personality at work. I’m talking full razzle dazzle!” _

_ Honestly, Keith thought he was ridiculous. Cute beyond measure, but definitely ridiculous.  _

*******

Keith doesn’t get to check his phone too often, but when he does, there’s always messages and photos from Lance that make him smile. Tonight isn’t so bad because he knows he gets to head up to Lance’s warm apartment when he’s done rather than ride the subway home.

After he rings the bell for last call, Keith heads back to the corner booth where his friends are very drunk at this point. 

“Hey!!” they all shout at him. They’ve done this every time he’s approached the table, but it’s gotten progressively louder each time.

“Scooch,” he says, cueing his friends to move over counterclockwise to make room. 

“Scooch, scooch, scooch, scooch!” they all chant as they slide around the curved seat. 

Keith’s got closing tasks to do and tables to clear, but his feet are killing him something extra tonight. Plus he wants to check his phone.

“Oh, so he sits with us, but does not deem to talk to us,” says a very surly Allura as Keith immediately pulls out his phone.

“I think it’s sweet that him and Lance are so love sick,” says Hunk, the closest to sober of the group. “They’re soulmates,” he adds as he begins to cry. Okay, not that sober…

Keith opens the photo Lance sent him and is happy to see he’s ditched the pineapple jacket finally. It’s not a selfie, so he must’ve asked someone to take it for him. Trust Lance to make friends wherever he goes. 

Pidge clicks their tongue and says, “Anyone ever tell you it’s rude to read your phone in front of you frie- hold on, I just got a text.” They pull out their phone too. “It’s a pic from Shiro.”

Allura pulls her phone out of her purse as Hunk takes his out of his pocket. 

“I got it too,” says Allura.

“Me too,” says Hunk.

“I didn’t get anything from him,” says Keith, going into his chat with his brother to double check.

“Should I send this to Keith or show him in person?”

Keith is really confused over what Hunk just said because he is ‘Keith in person,’ but then he realizes Hunk was reading the text message from Shiro out loud.

“Show me what?” asks Keith leaning over to try to see Hunk’s phone screen, but he holds his phone up in the air out of reach.

“That motherfucker!” says Pidge at the same time Allura smacks the table and says, “Fucking scumbag!” They’re both looking at their phones and whatever photo Shiro sent all three of them, but not Keith.

“What! What did he send you?”

“He sent - “ begins Allura, going to flip her phone around so Keith can see.

“No!” says Hunk, smacking the phone back. “This is out of context. We can’t all jump to conclusions here!”

Keith hates this. Hates not knowing what’s going on and being spoken to like he’s not even here. His mind is already racing over what could be in that photo.

“It’s hardly a conclusion,” says Pidge, “It’s pretty obvious what’s going on here!” They try to turn their phone screen around, but Hunk reaches across Allura to try grab at Pidge’s phone, smushing Allura against the table. He doesn’t get it before Pidge twists away then scooches right out of the booth.

“Hunk, I am not a child!” says Keith, firmly. “I can’t stand not knowing, so someone just show me the photo!” Keith’s phone dings in his hand with a text from Pidge, who has just forwarded the photo to Keith’s phone. “Oh. Thank you, Pidge.”

“Just… keep an open mind,” says Hunk, as Keith goes to open it. “Also, you can hold my hand if you need to.”

Keith opens the photo and squints at it, trying to make sense of what he’s seeing. It’s an angle looking down over a crowd inside a music venue. Shiro must’ve taken it from up in the balcony. The first thing Keith spots is that obnoxious pineapple jacket. 

Okay, so Lance is there and it’s a photo of Lance so what are they upset about? 

But that’s when Keith notices the blond hair cascading over the back of the shoulders, obscuring many of the pineapples. 

Keith never thought he’d be so upset to see those pineapples hidden...

The question of exactly who is donning the famous pineapple jacket is overshadowed by the spotting of Lance himself. The neon pink mesh shirt, that Keith had thought he looked so hot in, stands out in the crowd, especially when it’s located right beside the pineapple jacket. Like right beside. So beside that a neon mesh clad arm is snaked around the back of the pineapple jacket.

Lance has his arm around someone else and that someone is wearing his jacket.

“Oh,” says Keith. His phone hits the table with a  _ smack!  _ He hadn’t even realized it had slipped from his fingers.

“There’s a logical explanation for this,” says Hunk. “I’m texting Lance right now.”

“No!” says Allura, firmly as he points a finger at him. “Do not give him a heads up so he has time to prepare a lie. 

“It’s not gonna be a lie!” argues Hunk. “It’ll be an explanation that he will reply right back with,. Keith, wouldn’t you want this cleared up right away rather than waiting and worrying?”

“There’s nothing to clear up,” says Allura. “He’s been caught red handed and at the very least, Keith should get the satisfaction of confronting him in person.”

Keith almost asks, ‘Caught doing what?’ because his brain has gotten so foggy he can’t follow the conversation.

Wait, no… He remembers now. Caught cheating. Lance is cheating on him.

“Lance is my best friend, he wouldn’t mess around,” says Hunk.

“Lance is my friend too,” Allura argues back, “but take it from someone Lance has been hitting on since the day we met, he is way too much of a player to commit. I was worried about this, but I bit my tongue and now I regret not talking Keith out of dating him.”

“Are you okay?” asks Pidge, sitting down next to Keith. He’s so out of it, he doesn’t scooch down and they end up pressed against him, uncomfortably hanging off the end of the bench.

“Who is she?” asks Keith, knowing full well that wasn’t an answer to Pidge’s question. 

“Nyma maybe?” says Allura. “She has long blond hair and she’s been stringing Lance along by flirting with him for years now and she only ever does it when he’s in a relationship. I’ll check her socials for clues.”

Even though Lance had a boyfriend, he must’ve wanted to use that ticket and have some company then maybe one thing led to another...

“Why would he invite her?” Keith’s voice comes out as a shrill hiss. “I’m busy one night and he asks someone he’s always had a crush on?”

“You are the one he’s always had a crush on!” says Hunk. “You, Keith! Every girl he flirted with meant nothing!

“Hey!” says Allura.

“He was just too shy to admit his feelings to you until recently,” continues Hunk.

“Well, he’s not with me right now, so what does it matter what he said his feelings are?”

“Busted,” says Allura. “Nyma checked in at the venue and even posted a photo of herself in that god awful pineapple jacket and tagged it: My friend has the best taste in fashion.”

“Friend,” snorts Pidge.

“I’m going to strangle her,” says Allura, “No, first I’m going to strangle Lance and then I’m going to strangle Nyma and then I’m going to strangle Lance once more for good measure even if he seems pretty dead.”

Keith can’t listen to this anymore. He stands up as he remembers he has an excuse to leave the table and everything.

“I have to get back to work. No one say anything to Lance, okay? I want to be the first to talk to him.”

“As it should be,” says Allura.

“I’ll let Shiro know you know,” says Pidge.

Hunk looks like he’s about to explode, holding back what he wants to say.

“Please Hunk,” begs Keith. “I really want to be the one who handles it, so promise you won’t talk to him until at least tomorrow.”

“Okay, okay, but I really think this is going to get cleared up and we’ll all go back to normal.”

Keith turns away, thinking about how, for the majority of the past eight years, the normal has been him pining over Lance while serving drinks to him and his current flavour of the month. Keith’s month went by so fast…

He will not cry at work! He won’t!

“Keith, someone threw up in the men’s room,” says Iverson, when Keith gets behind the bar.

Okay, He ends up crying in the bathroom while cleaning up vomit. Then he hides in there until his boss comes looking for him. By that time the bar is closed and his friends have left, hopefully keeping their promises to not speak to Lance.

Keith is left to finish closing and lockup. More texts from arrive from Lance: informing him the show is over, then letting him know he’s heading home, and then eventually letting him know he’s home. Keith lets them build up and doesn’t answer. 

He knows he should lockup, go upstairs, and have the inevitable conversation that needs to be had with Lance. Instead, he finds himself pouring a drink and sitting down at a table. He must space out, because he doesn’t move again until he hears the bar door open… which he apparently left unlocked. He blinks and sees the full glass of whiskey still sitting in front of him, untouched.

“Keith?”

He turns to see it’s Lance.

“Keith, it’s three-thirty in the morning, what are you still doing here?”

Lance must notice the look on his face because suddenly he’s overcome with concern and rushing over.

“Babe, what’s wrong what happened?”

“You… cheated on me,” says Keith, forcing the words out.

“Wha - What are you talking about?” asks Lance, dropping into the seat across from Keith. “I didn’t cheat on you. Keith, I would never cheat on you!”

Keith opens up his phone to the photo he’s been feeling too sick to look at again, then slides it across the table towards Lance.

Lance picks it up and studies the photo. “Wait, who took - ?”

“Shiro.”

“But - uh - wait, walk me through your logic here. This is just a photo of me at the show with Nyma.”

“With Nyma!” says Keith, his voice coming out louder than he intended. “The girl you’ve always had a thing for.”

“That’s not true. I - ”

“I couldn’t go with you so you invited the person you’ve been trying to sleep with for years?!”

“Whoa! No!” says Lance, his voice getting louder. “I didn’t invite anyone. Nyma was the one who gave me the two tickets. She’s the club promoter and she knows I love DJ Bii-Boh-Beatbox. No one used the ticket meant for you and since I was alone at the show, she hung out with me for a few songs.”

“Hung out?” repeated Keith. “Your arm is around her!”

“Okay, but what you can’t see in the photo, because there’s people blocking us, is Nyma was wearing these crazy high shoes and every time someone knocked into her while dancing she’d start to topple over so I kept having to help hold her up.”

“Yeah, I’m sure she was falling into your arms back accident,” says Keith bitterly.

“She was!” argues Lance.

“She’s wearing your jacket!” yells Keith, slamming his hands down on the table and pushing up to stand.

“Because she was complaining that she was cold,” says Lance, throwing out his arms. “So I offered her mine since I was boiling in that thing.”

“That is ridiculous! Giving your coat to a girl? That is the reason coat checks exist!” yells Keith. “You check your coat when you enter the venue so you’re not wearing the jacket during the show!”

“Okay, I will next time!” says Lance. “I promise I will give my jacket to coat check instead of a cold friend! I honestly just thought I was being a good guy!”

“With the girl who only flirts with you when you are in a relationship! And you know what’s not being a good guy, Lance? Cheating on me!” Keith’s voice cracks.

“Nothing happened!”

“We’ve been friends for so long,” says Keith, starting to cry, “How could you do this to me?”

“So that’s just it, huh?” says Lance. “My word means nothing? Because as my friend first, I thought you trusted me.”

“Don’t put this back on me,” cries Keith. “Every one of our friends thinks you’re guilty!”

“Wait, what?” gasps Lance. “How do they - ? Whoa, wait, even Hunk?”

“You know what? I can’t,” says Keith, backing away. “Just… just lock up when you leave.” He turns and makes a break for the door.

“Keith! Wait! I don’t have keys!”

The long subway ride home feels worse than ever. It’s also when he realizes he left his phone back at the bar…

*****

“Keith!” says Pidge as Keith walks out from the kitchen to the main bar. “What’s going on? You’ve been radio silent since last night and Iverson said you weren’t working today.”

Keith is too tired for this amount of energy. He didn’t sleep at all last night. “Yeah, I came in because I left my phone here after breaking up with Lance.”

“Boooo,” everyone around them boos.

“Hey, I had good reason!” says Keith, looking around.

“Oh, sorry, that was confusing,” says Pidge. “I trained everyone here to boo anytime they hear Lance’s name.”

“Booooo!”

“See?”

“Wow. I wish that made me feel better, but I just feel… numb.”

Pidge pats him on the back. “It’ll eventually feel good. C’mon, take my beer. We have a table.”

“Wait,” says Keith, resisting the guiding pressure on his back. “Is Lance here?”

“Booooo!”

“No, I would’ve warned you.”

A chorus of “Heeeeeeey” and a big squish of a group hug (that includes his brother) meets Keith when he gets to the table. The table they have is, of course, their usual corner booth in the back. Except there’s one change. There’s a strip of red tape right down the centre.

“What’s - ?” 

“Divider line,” says Pidge, scooching in with the others, going counterclockwise like they always do.

Normally, Keith would follow suit, but the right side looked so crowded and Hunk’s sitting all by himself on the left side. Plus Keith met his touch-quota with that group hug so for once he goes in clockwise, but before he even touches his ass to vinyl, everyone on the right side yells, “NO!”

Keith freezes, butt hovering over the seat. “Why-y?”

“That’s Team Lance’s side,” explains Allura.

Hunk nods in acknowledgment.

“Wait - what?” asks Keith, slipping out and going back to standing.

“The negotiations have been going on for hours,” says Shiro. “Obviously, now that our group has splintered, the custody of the table came up.”

“Table custody?” repeats Keith.

“Who gets the table in the separation, sweetie,” says a man with glasses who is sitting beside Shiro.

“Who are you?” asks Keith.

“Adam, Shiro’s boyfriend,” says (apparently) Adam. “We met in the group hug just now. Oh, I’m sad you don’t remember me.”

“Boyfriend?” repeats Shiro. “We went on one date.”

“Yeah, and it’s still going twenty-four hours later.”

“Okay, fair.”

Allura nods to Adam. “We’re auditioning him to be the new Lance. He’s got the dramatic thing down.”

“Thank you,” says Adam, very pointedly.

“We’re probably going to need to audition a new Hunk too,” says Pidge, bitterly. “Since this one is being a bad friend.” Pidge shoots a look across the table at Hunk, only for all of them to notice Hunk has fallen asleep. “Hey!” says Pidge, slapping the table. “Don’t sleep while I’m being passive aggressive towards you.”

“Hun, that was straight-up aggressive,” says Adam.

“I’m sorry,” says Hunk yawning. “I was too worried to sleep and then Lance called me, upset, at 4AM and talked until his phone died, which didn’t happen until this morning.”

“Lance was up all night?” asks Keith, as he finally gives in and sits on the edge of the seat next to Pidge.

“He said he had to stay awake so he could guard the bar,” says Hunk.

“What does that mean?” asks Allura.

“I don’t know,” says Hunk. Keith knew what it meant. It meant Lance didn’t have keys so he stayed at the bar all night so no one would ransack it while it was unlocked. “But he said he had to stay awake so he wouldn’t screw up another thing.”

“Sounds like a confession to me,” says Allura.

“BOOOOOOOOO!!” Loud booing interrupts their conversation. He thinks someone by the bar said Lance’s name again, but the booing keeps going. Keith looks to see Lance standing in shock by the door, looking around as the entire place boo’\s at him.

Pidge laughs. “I also told everyone to boo when they see him too.”

Lance shakes his head and heads towards the back corner. Oh shit! He’s coming to the back corner and Keith isn’t ready to see him! 

“Hide me,” says Keith.

“Here!” says Adam, tossing his coat over Pidge so it lands on Keith’s head, obstructing his view. “Booooooo!”

“Who are you and why are you booing me?” It’s Lance’s voice, though it sound gruffer than usual. “And why is there tape on the table? And why is Keith under that jacket?”

Okay, why did he even try this? Keith pulls the jacket off, but refuses to look at Lance.

“At least that’s better,” says Lance with a sigh. Keith refuses to look at him. “Keith, can we talk alone for a minute?”

“Booooooo!!!” this time Allura, Pidge, and Adam all boo together and they just keep going.

“Seriously?” groans Lance, raising his voice over the boos.

“Lance, sit here,” says Hunk, patting the spot beside him.

Keith watches in his peripheral as Lance sits down on the Team Lance side and the other’s immediately stop booing.

“Okay, what’s that about?” asks Lance, gesturing to the Team Keith side of the table.

“I negotiated that they can’t attack you on this side of the table,” explains Hunk. “Neutral zone. Like Switzerland.”

“You’re all pissed at me?” asks Lance. “You don’t even want to hear my side?”

“Babe, I was there,” says Adam, pausing to take a sip from his curly straw. “I know what I saw.”

“Again, who are you?”

“I’m Adam, Shiro’s boyfriend. I helped breakup you and Keith. I’m sad you’ve never heard of me. It’s like my reputation has not preceded me into this particular bar. Weird energy here…”

“We broke up?” gasps Lance and he sounds so hurt that Keith slips up and looks at him. Looks at the man he wishes he weren’t still in love with. “I thought that was just a fight.”

Keith shrugs his shoulders up, uncomfortably. “I don’t stay with cheaters.”

“I didn’t cheat on you.”

“I feel like we’ve been over this,” says Adam.

“Fuck off, Alex,” snaps Lance.

“Whoa,” echoes around the table. While Adam says, “It’s Adam, actually.”

“Lance, calm down,” says Hunk.

“How am I supposed to calm down when everyone here hates me for something I didn’t do?”

“I have to start my shift,” says Keith, abruptly standing up.

“I thought you weren’t working today,” says Pidge.

“I changed my mind,” says Keith, as if that makes any sense. Maybe they don’t need him on today, but he’s sure as fuck not going to sit here and listen to this.

“This table is feeling rather crowded,” says Allura, rising up. She’s all the way near the centre of the table, at the very edge of Team Keith's side, so everybody on the right needs to scooch out to let her out. This means Hunk and Lance are the only ones left sitting.

“You know what?” says Pidge, grabbing the edge of the tape and pulling up so it lifts off the surface, heading to the back edge of the table, then snapping off. “You can have the whole table.” They ball up the tape and throw it at Lance. “You don’t deserve it, but you deserve Keith even less!”

The others migrate towards an empty table, not a booth so it’s a downgrade. Keith starts towards the bar. As he’s walking away, in a moment of quiet while the music playing in the place switches songs, he overhears Lance .

“I swear nothing happened, Hunk.”

“I know, buddy,” answers Hunk.

Keith walks faster and heads to the back to grab an apron.

“You’re not on today,” says Iverson.

“I need the distraction,” says Keith, tying the apron.

“I’m not paying you.”

“I don’t care,” says Keith, walking away to go find something to busy himself with.

Some time later, while Keith’s dusting behind the bar, he hears another chorus of boos and looks up to see Lance approaching the bar. Keith’s first instinct is to escape into the kitchen, but then he notices that Lance’s eyes are red like he’s been crying and his heart squeezes with sympathy. Then he immediately remembers Lance cheated on him and gets too wrapped up in the contrasting emotions to make his escape.

“Hey,” says Lance when the boos around him have calmed down.

“Hey,” says Keith with shaky breath. He braces himself for whatever Lance has to say.

“Here,” says Lance as he pulls Keith’s phone out of his pocket. “You left it here last night, so I brought it home to charge it for you. I would’ve let you know I had it, but… how would I let you know?”

“Right,” says Keith, as he accepts the phone.

“So I’m gonna go,” says Lance, hooking a thumb over his shoulder towards the exit and taking a step back. “Because the last thing you need is your ex hanging around your place of work.” 

“Oh, okay,” says Keith, feeling all that much sadder.

Lance takes another step back, then adds, “Uh, because I know your passcode I went ahead and muted all individual chats with me on social media.” Keith is about to ask why when Lance continues his ramble, “Because I’m going to go home and drink alone and if I know me, it’s going to lead to me texting you, so I wanted to make sure you were protected against the barrage of my patheticness. So, uh, bye.” 

Lance turns on his heel and makes a quick exit. A chorus of boos accompanies him until he’s out the door. Keith feels like he’s been run over by a truck that immediately took off. He doesn’t know what to do…

“Hey Keith, as long as you’re here, someone puked in the bathroom,” says Iverson.

******

Crying in the bathroom while cleaning it becomes a regular thing. It’s funny because Keith signs up for shifts every single day to avoid staying home and crying. Lance doesn’t come back. Hunk comes by again, but the others refuse to sit with him even after Keith implores them not to take this out on Hunk. 

With Lance and Hunk gone from the bar, Team Keith takes back the corner booth. Keith rarely sits down with them though. Allura and Pidge just want to trash talk Lance. Keith isn’t there yet. He’s too stuck missing Lance and feeling sad, to feel angry.

Shiro is comforting at home (or at least good at allowing Keith his space to mope), but he’s brings Adam to the bar every night and they are way too flirty and happy for Keith to stomach right now.

It’s like the entire friend group has shattered. Keith feels guilty over this. Logically he knows Lance is the one who blew it all up, but Keith blames himself for dating his friend in the first place. 

Lance had brought them together. He introduced Hunk to the bar and when Pidge turned twenty-one, they started bringing them around too. Allura was someone Lance tried to pick up one night (and in all honesty, Keith hated her at first for that.) She never returned his interest, but she was fun and cool so they kept her and she became one of Keith’s favourite people soon after. Lastly, there was Shiro. Shiro would come by to pick up Keith on nights when he was free. He ended up enjoying drinking with Lance, Hunk, Allura, and Pidge so he started coming by earlier and earlier until suddenly he was part of the group too. 

Or… were they the group and Keith was just the server who brought them drinks? Was he always on the outside of something fragile?

Thinking about it makes Keith’s head hurt. On top of that, there’s the seed of doubt planted in his mind that continues to grow, fed by the awful longing to see Lance again. It continues to beg the question, what if Lance was telling the truth?

Obviously, Lance gave Nyma his jacket and put his arm around her, but what if his reasoning for doing so was pure? And he’s not a cheater and just a doofus?

Keith never voices this question out loud to his friends. He knows they’ll just dismiss it anyway, so what was the point?

By Friday night Keith is exhausted from overworking, overthinking, and not sleeping. He gets home at three am from the bar and cracks right then and there. He opens up all the muted Lance chats, one by one, and reads the messages. There’s dozens of them, but the messages that stand out are:

_ I miss you _

_ I’m sorry _

_ I love you, Keith _ _  
_ _ So much _

That last one nearly knocks Keith out. They never got so far in their relationship to exchange ‘I love you’s.’ Not that Keith didn’t feel it. He did. He loved Lance so much, even still. Had fallen in love with him across a sticky bar while Lance asked him questions from his crossword puzzle and ate stale pretzels at eleven in the morning on a Wednesday because he preferred Keith’s company over the comfort of his home.

Keith had wanted this for so long and it fell apart so quickly. It was like Keith wasn’t meant to have nice things, but he already knew that…

Sleeping only a few hours after crying yourself to sleep seven nights in a row is not recommended and it was not helping Keith’s work performance at all.

“Drop these off at table sixteen and then you can take off,” says Iverson, handing Keith a couple pints of beer.

“But it’s the Saturday rush and I just started an hour ago.”

“And in that time you’ve spilled three drinks, broken two glasses, and let an entire table of businessmen walk out without paying,” says Iverson. “I appreciate that you're going through a rough time and work helps you through it, but you’re at the point where you need to rest and process.”

Keith begrudgingly takes the drinks. Table sixteen is that back corner booth, but he hasn’t seen any of his friends come in, which means there’s a pair of randos sitting at their table. Probably on a date. Keith hates them already.

“Lance?” says Keith when he approaches and sees his ex sitting alone in the booth. “How -? When did you get here? I didn’t hear booing.”

“I snuck in with a group of bachelorettes. Wore a tiara and everything.”

Keith sets down the drinks and crosses his arms. “Let’s see it.”

Lance reaches down beside him and pulls up a sparkly pink tiara. He goes to set it back down, but Keith stops him with, “I meant wear it.”

Lance puts it on his head, pulls a face then goes to take it off.

“Leave it,” says Keith.

Lance drops his arm. “Okay, I guess I owe you that much.”

Keith looks down at the two beers. “You waitin’ on Nyma?”

“Keith…,” says Lance, gently.

“She must be psyched she got to steal you away from someone.”

“Keith, I’d like you to join me.”

“What? No,” says Keith, taking a step back. He is so not emotionally prepared to talk to Lance right now.

“You have to,” says Lance, “I’m invoking the bro code. As bros, we are obligated to drop everything and join the other for drinks when he’s hurting and going through a breakup.”

“That doesn’t count if I’m the one who broke up with you!”

“Check the bro code rulebook, man. There’s no exception to that rule.”

“It’s not even a real book!” argues Keith. “Ugh, fine!” Keith drops down onto the right side. Lance scooches over towards him. “This is Team Keith’s side!”

“I know, which is why I want to be over here,” says Lance.

Frustrated, Keith gets back up and moves around to sit on the left so he can face Lance rather than have to sit so close to him. He grabs one of the beers and gulps down half of it because he needs the nourishment to get through whatever pity party Lance is about to throw for him.

“So, I’m having a hard time,” says Lance, rubbing a finger around the rim of his pint glass, rather from drinking from it.

“Too fucking bad, Lance. You caused it.”

“I know,” says Lance. “I’m not disputing that. I hate that the person I care most about in this world is going through a breakup because of me.”

Keith’s brows pinch with confusion. “So you mean… yourself?” No surprise he cares most about himself...

“No, I mean you,” says Lance, shyly. “As bad as I feel about everything, nothing feels as awful as knowing you’re hurting and I’m not there to support you.”

“You can’t be,” says Keith.

“Show me the rule,” says Lance.

“The fact that it’s going to be awkward and confusing is the rule.”

Lance nods. “You got me there. It’s just, I have been thinking about us a lot lately. Every second actually… Mostly about how we were before. How if some jerk treated you badly, I’d buy you a beer and we’d talk it out, then mock him mercilessly. We’d close down the bar talking about all our exes and what we wanted in life.” Lance frowns looking off into the distance.

Keith looks down at his half empty beer. “So you bought me the beer. Let’s trash this asshole.”

Lance perks up. “Really?”

“Yeah, but you know you’re the asshole, right?”

“I have thought of nothing but how I’m the asshole for the past week straight.”

“Good, because you know what would really make me feel better?” asks Keith, the corners of his mouth turning up for the first time in a week. “When we mock the guy’s dick by comparing it to the vegetable it most closely resembled.”

Lance groans and drops his head back, making his tiara slide back, but not fall off. He looks at Keith again and says, “I’m only agreeing to this in hopes of keeping that smile on your face.”

“Sounds good, Zucchini Dick.”

“Aw man…”

********

Three rounds later and they’re still playing pretend, talking like nothing ever happened between them. It’s the most relief Keith has felt in a week, but there’s also a dark shadow sneaking up on him and squeezing at his heart, little by little, making him sad.

“Did I ever tell you the story of how I intertwined our lives?” asks Lance. As he speaks he focuses on twirling his finger in a puddle of spilled beer. The tiara is no longer on his head, but has been flipped upside down and stuck around his neck like a choker.

“Yeah, you moved into the building upstairs and started coming here to drink with a fake ID.”

“You’re terribly wrong, but I won’t fault you for it because I never told you the truth before.”

“How can there be more to this story?” asks Keith

“Well, I wasn’t actually going to take the apartment upstairs. It was so far out of my price range, it’s not even funny, but even so, I wanted it. I went for a walk to try to convince myself this neighbourhood sucks and it’s too far from the subway and no cool people live here…” Lance trails off.

“What happened?”

“I met someone cool.”

“Okay.”

“It was you, Keith. I know you don’t remember this happening because you’re borderline faceblind, but you were outside the bar, taking out the trash and I stopped you to ask all those questions and…”

“What happened?”

“Love at first sight,” says Lance with the most embarrassed shrug. “Or something akin to it. I just know I was drawn to you. Always have been.”

Keith sighs and frowns. “You never told me you loved me before we broke up. It just feels like a ploy to get me back.”

Lance shakes his head. “I was saving saying it for the right moment. I regret waiting because now I know the right time to say it was any moment we were ever sitting across a table or a bar like this over the past decade.” While Keith stays silent, processing, Lance speaks again. “I didn’t think I was a whole enough person to deserve you. Held me back.”

“Lance - ” begins Keith. He’s cut off by the Last Call bell being rung by Iverson.

“It’s late,” says Lance, speaking more to himself than Keith. He looks at Keith with bright, shiny blue eyes and says, “I hope we can do this again sometime in the future… If we can reset.” Then he drops cash to cover the drinks on the table and gets up to leave.

Keith has been hit by a truck once more… So why does he miss the truck?

********   
Time skips forward, Keith barely remembers the elevator ride up, but suddenly he’s knocking on Lance’s door. When Lance answers, he doesn’t let him speak before he’s rambling. 

“You know me,” says Keith, “You know my mom abandoned me and I lost my dad, then I got shipped around to different foster homes before Shiro’s family adopted me.”

“I do know,” says Lance, seeming nervous.

“I’m used to being abandoned and I’m used to being hurt and I’m scared to take chances. I’ve worked the same job for nine years and I’m stuck, Lance.”

“It’s okay, Keith. You’re - ,” Lance sigh, frustrated. “You’re enough how you already are.”

“You said you wanted to do it again and reset.” When Lance looks confused, Keith adds, “Just now at the bar.”

“Uhh…”

“When you said that, did you mean have a beer and be friends again or try…” Keith sighs, not knowing how to word it. “Just… try.”

Lance glances down at the ground then back up at Keith. “I wanna try, of course. I’m always gonna wanna -”

Keith cuts Lance off with a tight hug. Slowly, Lance’s arms come to wrap around Keith’s back, gently at first and then tight. Keith nudges the door shut with his heel.


	2. The Way We Are

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One week into the breakup, Lance takes some brave steps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi readers! Please thank renten/@UsagiYooni on twitter for the sequel!

Lance thought finding out he apparently cheated was the worst news possible. But no, finding out he’d apparently already broken up with Keith was the worst.

He thought they’d fought. He thought Keith had been too wound up to accept his side of the story. He thought he’d cool down and they’d talk and Keith would be ready to accept that nothing had happened with Nyma and that Lance is truly sorry he put his arm around her without telling him. And maybe after, Keith might even apologize for assuming that arm led to anything else that would be closer to the common definition of cheating.

But no, apparently their fight had been a breakup and also, all of Lance’s friends now hate him.

“Hey-oh!” calls out Hunk as he lets himself into Lance’s apartment.

Okay, not all his friends.

“Where are you?” ask Hunk.

“Bed,” Lance calls back. 

“Again today?” asks Hunk, shuffling into the bedroom with containers of homemade food and a thermos of coffee. 

Lance doesn’t deserve such kindness. It makes him start to tear up.

“Oh no, no, it’s okay,” says Hunk quickly. He drops the food off on the desk, then sits on the bed so he can rub Lance’s back. “You can stay in bed if you want to.” He’s misinterpreting Lance’s gratitude tears for breakup tears. To be fair, they’re a bit of both. “I just thought you had a work meeting today.”

“I am in my work meeting,” says Lance, gesturing to his computer. He works from home so all his meetings are video calls anyway. Today he was in no state to appear on camera so he just set up a framed photo of himself in front of his laptop.

“That… can’t be fooling anyone,” says Hunk.

Lance reaches over the gap between his bed and desk and hits unmute on his laptop.  _ “And that brings us back to the quarterly projections,” _ says Coran,  _ “which reminds me of another story from my youth. I used to be quite the wild boar hunter growing up in -” _ Lance clicks mute again.

“Oh man, I almost found out what country that guy is from,” says Hunk.

“I don’t know, man,” says Lance. “I googled the name of his hometown once and it doesn’t exist. My boss is weird.”

“So other than, uh, appearing via photo in your meeting, how ya doing, buddy?”

“Horrible,” says Lance, flipping over onto his back.

“Yeah,” says Hunk, “this is a rough one. I’ve never seen you spiral after a breakup like this.”

“Of course I am, Hunk! It’s Keith!” Lance growls at the ceiling.

Hunk nods as if he gets it, which he couldn’t. He’s the only one that knows Lance would never cheat on Keith, but how could he understand that Lance’s heart belongs to Keith and always will?

“My heart belongs to Keith and always will,” sobs Lance, twisting to cry into his pillow. Perhaps he could know if Lance told him?

“Hey, hey, hey,” says Hunk, rubbing his shoulder. “I brought you some food.”

“You can just put it in the fridge.”

“If I put it in the fridge, you don’t eat it. I wanna see you eat at least half,” scolds Hunk.

Lance groans and pulls his blanket over his head.

“I really think you’ll feel a bit better if you eat.”

*******   
Lance is on his third frittata and has managed to pull on sweats (but not because the food made him feel better.) “You know what,” says Lance, standing up. “I’m not rolling over and giving up!”

“Love to hear that!” says Hunk.

“I’m going to win Keith back!”

“You should!”

“I’m going to march down to the bar right now and -”

“Ohhhhh,” says Hunk, making a face. “I wouldn’t go to his work place in the middle of the day… in sweat pants… smelling like, well, the way that you smell.”

“Oh yeah,” says Lance, sitting back down. “Pidge and Allura might be there and they’ve been guarding Keith like the Sphinxes guard the Southern Oracle, amirite?”

“What?

“Neverending Story,” clarifies Lance.

“Right, right.”

“I mean, what’s gotten into them? They’re freezing out you, Hunk and you’re… You’re Hunk!”

“Aw, I appreciate the concern, Lance, but I’m fine. Tempers are running high, there’s big feelings involved.”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to be okay with it,” says Lance.

“Okay, but neither do you,” says Hunk. “You can be mad, at Keith even.”

“I know,” says Lance, squeezing himself in a hug because it feels like all his feelings are going to start leaking out between his ribs if he doesn’t physically hold them in. “But it’s like… too many emotions for one person. And I can’t stop wondering…”

Lance stands up and turns to riffle through his bedding.

“Wondering what?”

Lance bunches his bedding into a ball and throws it on the floor.

“Wondering what, Lance?” asks Hunk again, this time sounding far more concerned.

“Ah ha!” says Lance, discovering his phone on his now bare mattress.

“Wh-wh-what are you doing?” asks Hunk. “Because I really don’t think you should cold call Keith. Maybe you and I should warm up with a few, uh, dozen run throughs of what you’re going to say.”

“I’m not calling Keith,” says Lance, spinning back around. “I’m calling…” He hits call… It rings… “Probably should’ve timed that so they pick up right when I set that up.”  _ Beep, beep, beep.  _ “And they hung-up instead of answering.”

“So you were calling…?

“Pidge, Allura, Shiro, and… uh, the guy who helped break us up… I wanna say Aaron?”

“Adam,” says Hunk. “He’ll be disappointed you don’t remember.”

Lance tries Allura’s number and it goes to voicemail. “Can we use your phone?” asks Lance. “All the people currently speaking to me are in this room.”

“So we’re including…?” Hunk nods over to his laptop that still has Coran jabbering to Lance’s framed photo.

*****   
Hunk conference calls everyone. They do in fact pick up for Hunk, but don’t want to talk to Lance directly until Hunk convinces them.

“I really wanna talk face to face with everyone,” says Lance over speaker phone.

_ “Fine,” _ says Allura.  _ “I’m free in an hour.” _

_ “No can do,” _ says Adam.  _ “I’m teaching Zumba then.” _

“That’s fine,” says Lance. “You’re the least important anyway. You literally came into the situation and judged us with no context.”

_ “Ouch!” _

_ “I’m free in an hour,” _ says Shiro.

_ “I can do that time too,” _ says Pidge.  _ “Meet us at the bar?” _

“Actually, we were thinking neutral ground,” says Hunk. 

“So...,” says Lance. “Does anyone else know any other bars?”

Crickets.

*******   
“Who knew this bar was right across the street?” says Lance as he enters with Hunk.

“We should really explore the city more.”

“Do you see them?” asks Lance. He’s late, which isn’t a good start, but he had to shower and shave and cry before he was able to leave the house.

“See them? I’m having deja vu,” says Hunk, pointing to the corner booth in the back.

“Of course they’d sit there.”

“Do you want me to…?”

“No, I think I need to talk to them myself,” says Lance. He takes two steps then turns back and says, “but if I start yelling or crying, swoop in like I’m your baby caught under a car.”

“Superhuman mom strength, got it!”

Lance approaches the table, his nerves kicking in and willing him to run away and not deal with this, but he needs to take this step. One day he had everything, a close group of friends, a bar downstairs from his place, and, most importantly, he was finally dating the love of his life. Then the next day it was all gone. 

This is the first gate and as his former friends notice him, he remembers the Sphinx statues firing lasers at Atreyu and gulps. The key to getting through this gate is to not doubt himself.

He slides into the booth on the left side. Team Lance’s side.

“Thanks for meeting me here,” says Lance.

“Oh, is that you, Lance?” says Pidge. “I didn’t recognize you without everyone around you booing.”

“You couldn’t whip up a mob of villagers on short notice?” asks Lance.

“For the record,” says Shiro, “I always thought the booing was too much.”

“Hey,” says Allura, turning to look at Shiro. “United front, remember?”

“So you need three of you to go against one of me?” asks Lance.

“What’s that over there?” asks Pidge, pointing. “Looks like backup.”

Lance turns to see Hunk set up at a nearby table with Lance’s laptop open and holding a photo of Lance’s face in front of his own face.

“That’s Hunk on my, apparently all day, video conference meeting with my boss.”

“Lance, what is it you wanted to say?” asks Allura.

“Right…,” says Lance, looking down at the table. He can sense the three of them bristling, as if anticipating an attack, but when he does manage to speak, his voice is raw, full of emotion. “Why do you believe I did it?”

There’s a bit of silence as the tears well up in Lance’s eyes. They were probably expecting a defense and not a question.

“I’ve known you all so long and you’re my very best friends, but Shiro takes a photo of me with Nyma and you’re all so sure that means something happened?” Lance takes a deep breath and keeps going. “I know that the photo looked bad and I can even come around to understanding why it would freak out Keith, but why don’t my friends assume the best of me rather than the worst?”

Lance wants to break down crying after getting those words out, but he knows if he cries, Hunk will sweep in to protect him and he doesn’t think that will help. He doesn’t want protection. He wants harsh truths. No matter how much it’ll hurt.

“I guess I’ll start,” says Shiro. “I was the one who took the photo. I was in the balcony at the DJ Bii-Boh-Beatbox show when I noticed you and pointed out to Adam that my brother’s boyfriend was there. But when I looked again, you had your arm around Nyma. I didn’t want Keith to see the photo without some context from me, but I sent it to them,” says Shiro, gesturing Allura and Pidge, “to get their opinion on how to approach it with Keith and unfortunately, Keith was there and saw it.”

“But I was right there in person,” says Lance, “Why didn’t you talk to me yourself?”

“For one, I didn't have expensive floor tickets, but also, I thought it was best for you and Keith to talk. Honestly Lance, I don’t know if anything happened beyond what I saw, but Keith is my brother and I have to support whatever he believes.”

Lance stews in this for a moment, then looks to Pidge to signal it’s their turn.

“Lance, I have watched you hit on every single girl that has come through this bar.” Pidge stops and thinks. “Well, not this bar though it has an eerily similar layout…”

“You’ve been hitting on me for as long as I’ve known you,” says Allura.

“But that’s just my personality,” says Lance. “I’m fun and flirty.”

“Yes, and we’ve watched you fall in love and out of love within days of meeting someone so can you blame us for being scared on Keith’s behalf?”

“I have never cheated on anyone,” says Lance.

“That we know of,” scoffs Pidge.

“The important thing is every single one of your relationships had a very short lifespan,” says Allura. “You don’t date seriously. You and Keith had an expiry date. Even if you prove to be innocent, maybe it’s better if it comes earlier.”

“Keith and I didn’t have an expiry date,” says Lance. “I am in love with Keith. I have been since we met, but I was too,” Lance searches for the word, “closeted to act on it. It took me a long time to get to a place where I can finally be who I really am and love who I want to love. I’m being me finally.”

“No offense, Lance,” says Pidge, “but we’re your best friends and we don’t know who you really are. We just know who you’ve shown us.”

The second gate in the Neverending Story is the mirror, where you face your truest self. That’s what’s being shown to him. Lance has spent his whole adult life trying to project one image and hiding behind that. Maybe he deserves this, but… he’s also disappointed his friends didn’t believe in him and see his best self. Or that Keith didn’t… and Lance wants to lash out, but he knows it’s important to sit with this and try to reflect.

“Okay,” says Lance. “Thank you for this insight and I’m sorry, I guess, that I gave you a reason to doubt me.”  Mamá  always said apologies open doors to reciprocation.

The three of them share a look.

“I guess I’m sorry about the booing,” says Pidge. “Thinking about it now, it was too much.”

“When my father was alive,” says Allura, “he used to say, if you dislike someone, don’t recruit others to join your cause. We overstepped. I’m sorry for that.”

It’s not an admittance that they believe Lance, but it’s something. 

“I’m sorry you’re hurting, Lance,” says Shiro.

“I’m sure Keith’s worse,” says Lance, quietly. “I don’t know if I get to ask, but is he doing okay?”

“He’s been quiet. Reclusive. Working a lot.”

“I think he’s been working double shifts,” says Pidge.

“Think?” repeats Lance. “Aren’t you talking to him?”

“We’re trying,” says Allura, “We ask him to join us all the time, but he mostly says he’s busy and if he does sit down, it’s not for long. You know how he is.”

Lance can’t believe what he’s hearing. “Wait, so none of you are showing up at his place with containers full of food and making sure he gets out of bed?”

“He’s getting out of bed, he’s at The Metal Lion every day,” says Pidge, “and I assume Shiro is feeding him.”

“Well,” says Shiro with a shrug, “Keith kinda runs himself like usual.”

Lance pounds his fist on the table, startling everyone. The sudden noise causes Hunk to look over with concern, ready to pop out of his seat if need be. 

“Keith doesn’t come to people for help on his own, you have to really be present and patient to get him talking, otherwise he just spirals inside his head.” Lance stands up to go. He needs to check on Keith. He’s his friend first, ex second. Keith needs someone right now and Lance will do it himself if he has to.

“Lance, wait,” says Allura. Lance stops and he looks at her. She seems to doubt herself, then says. “Let’s talk again soon.”

Lance sighs. “Okay,” he starts to walk away then comes back. “Oh, and Shiro, tell Adam that Zumba class sounds fun and to sign me up for next Friday.”

*****

Lance walks out into the snow with Hunk.

“Part of me kinda wished we’d sit down and talk and all become friends again.”

Hunk frowns. “I know, Lance. But if you’re not ready to forgive them, you don’t have to. Same thing goes for Keith. He broke your heart too, you know. Are you sure you’re ready to see him?”

“That helps, Hunk, thanks. But I gotta be there for Keith. That need is bigger than anything else I’m feeling.”

Hunk stops Lance to hug him, which is awkward because the laptop is still open in his one arm.

“You’re a great guy, Lance. I see it and deep down Keith knows it. That’s why he fell for you.”

“Thank you. Now I just need to figure out how to get into The Metal Lion without everyone booing and alerting Keith. Lance hears giggling behind him. He turns to see a group of Bachelorettes in pink sparkly tiaras heading towards the steps down to the bar.

“Excuse me, ladies,” says Lance with a charming smile, but then he doubts himself. Is this the behaviour that isn’t okay? Then he remembers this is for Keith. “Can I ask you a favour?”

*****   
It takes a lot to get him back here, back sitting across from Keith, searching for the little moments that bring a smile dancing across his face. 

This is the Southern Oracle. Yes, it ends up being Sphinxes again in the movie, but they don’t shoot lasers from their eyes. No, they’re crumbling. Lance wants to do everything in his power to keep Keith from crumbling.

While they talk and reminisce, Lance remembers with an ache in his chest, how Pidge said they don’t really know him. If he wants to help Keith right now, he has to be as vulnerable and as real as possible.

“Did I ever tell you the story of how I intertwined our lives...?”

Maybe it doesn’t mean anything now, but if Keith is hurting because he believes Lance falls in and out of love easily, that he didn’t truly love him, maybe telling him the truth will help. 

So he talks and he shares it all.

“You never told me you loved me before we broke up,” says Keith. “It just feels like a ploy to get me back.”

Lance shakes his head. “I was saving saying it for the right moment. I regret waiting because now I know the right time to say it was any moment we were ever sitting across a table or a bar like this over the past decade. I didn’t think I was a whole enough person to deserve you. Held me back.”

“Lance - ” begins Keith, but he’s cut off when Iverson rings the last call bell. Maybe it’s best to leave it here for tonight.

“It’s late. I hope we can do this again sometime in the future… If we can reset.”

*******   
Lance’s heart flutters when there’s a knock on his door and it’s Keith.

Then... Keith is in Lance’s arms. 

Hunk’s right, he doesn’t feel like he can completely forgive Keith for not trusting him, even if he knows why he got scared. Not yet. He wants to hear Keith say the words, ‘I trust you, Lance.’ And maybe that’ll come when he shows him everyday how completely and irreversibly in love with him he is. 

For now, they hit reset with the sound of three little words whispered in Lance’s ear, “I’m so sorry…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Find my socials on [linktr.ee](https://linktr.ee/ChillyBang)
> 
> Please note, I have the comments on moderation, but I don't go through and approve often so if you don't see your comment show up, it's not that there was anything wrong with it, I'm just slow.
> 
> xoxoxoBBBK

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Find my socials on [linktr.ee](https://linktr.ee/ChillyBang)
> 
> xoxoxBBBK
> 
> Update: for the first time ever I have decided to turn off guest commenting and turn on comment moderation. This is your friendly reminder that you must say at least one nice thing if you want to leave a comment. It’s common curtesy.
> 
> Second Update: This work is now "To Be Continued..." I hope this makes y'all happy lol.


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